Renovating Democracy

"The rise of populism in the West, the rise of China in the East and the spread of peer-driven social media everywhere are prompting a deep rethinking of how democracy works -- or doesn't. The creation of new classes of winners and losers as a result of globalization and digital capitalism are also challenging how we think about global interconnectivity and the social contract. If contemporary democracies are going to take back control and compete with autocratic systems on the world stage while avoiding their own suicide through polarization and paralysis fueled by untrustworthy information, they need a radical renovation that responds to the forces undermining them. Above all, such a renovation must engage the participatory power of social media and the increasing preference of publics for direct democracy by designing new, impartial institutions and practices that interpose a deliberative check against the false claims, misinformation, intolerance and magical thinking that come along with the immediate wash of networked popular sentiment. In short, participation without populism. A new social contract is also necessary that spreads the wealth through an equity share for all thro